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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Japan is known for some of the biggest and most successful and widely known toys throughout the world. Giant robots! Godzilla! Pokemon! Sailor Moon! Hello Kitty! For whatever reason, when you think about toys, Japan comes to mind.

During my travels, it's also become apparent how the interests of the people reflect on the diversity of toys that are available to everyone, from casually interested kid to hardcore collector.

Japan amazingly produces several toys of different species from not only the deep-sea but also from "deep time" with many fossils and so on. What makes these so amazing to me is that they were even made!

Although some the plushies might have been made for a specific show, most were made for the general populace as either collectibles or items that interest the consumer.

This amazing species is captured as a tiny highly detailed replica, known as a gashapon. They are obtained from specific gashapon machines, but these days most folks just buy them individually at special shops throught the "hobby" distrcts of Japan, such as Akihabara or at Nakano Broadway.

These are highly detailed, come with a stand and are about 1-2 cm tall.

Somewhat more specialized is the plushy Enypniastes obtained via the gift shop at the National Museum of Nature & Science! These are larger as you can see below...

No fewer than TWO brands of sea pig gashapon (again, small highly detailed plastic models of Scotoplanes globosa)

This cool plush toy from the gift shop at the National Museum of Nature & Science in Tokyo!

3. We've all heard/seen of the famous Japanese giant plush Bathynomus/giant isopod toy!

and yes, it is indeed soft and cuddly! Perfect for those cold nights when your teddy bears and undependable stuffed mammals have run out on you!

BUT what about the Giant Bathynomus-inspired designer vinyl action figure! Stands a good 10 inches tall with ray-gun!

Made by and for collectors, I've seen diferent sizes and color variations of this toy...

ranging from 60 to $600.00! Some of them even glow in the dark!

Plush toys are gaining momentum, there's even a set of Paleozoic invertebrate plushies!!The National Museum of Nature and Science of Tokyo had a fun set of Paleozoic invertebrates made into plushies! Here's a carpoid! (Paleozoic echinoderm) But there was a whole Cambrian set which I'm not showing here...4. But the BIGGEST THING? small toys. Also known as gashapon! As mentioned earlier, tiny little 2-6 cm replicas of the real thing. Part of different sets following various themes for collectors..
For example, highly detailed Paleozoic invertebrates! Eurypterids and trilobites! (carpoids & others are also available).

Ammonoids! and more!

You want crabs and other crustaceans? YOU GOT IT! Anatomically accurate tiny plastic replicas of different crab families! Calappids! Portunids! Leucotheids! There's actually a second set with various lobsters and so forth...

You want NUDIBRANCHS? Done.

And of course there's a lot of your requisite whale, deep-sea fish, jellies and so on.. But here's a pretty cool commemorative set! Remember back when they had FIRST footage of the living deep-sea giant squid Architeuthis??

Yup, a commemorative and official (by the NMNS),Architeuthis squid gashapon set! With sperm whales and everything!

I don't think they have yet gotten the same excellent treatment in Japan as they have in North America. But many of these toys were thematic... deep-sea and fossils. Perhaps a stomatopod set is just around the corner!

About Me

I pursue starfish related adventure around the world with a critical eye and an appreciation for weirdness.
Support has been courtesy of the National Science Foundation but the views and opinions presented herein are mine and do not reflect the opinions of them or any affiliated institutions.
Need to hire an invertebrate zoologist/marine biologist? Please contact me!